1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for picking up natural yard waste such as leaves, small twigs, pine needles and the like and, more particularly, to a device for reducing the size of this natural yard waste to a particle size that facilitates compact containment thereof and effective use as garden mulch and/or compost.
2. Background Art
In the past, it was common to dispose of yard waste such as leaves, twigs, pine needles, and lightweight garden debris by either burning such materials or packing the same in containers to be conveniently hauled off to landfills. However, such disposal alternatives are generally no longer available to the average homeowner. The ever increasing concern for the environment has made burning illegal in many areas. Further, many waste disposal sites no longer even accept yard waste This is due in part to the tremendous volume of waste material which results in the unacceptably rapid filling of these sites, thereby necessitating the opening of additional disposal sites.
Provisions have been made, however, for hauling away yard-type waste. It is common for those picking up such waste to first require the homeowner to purchase biodegradable containers. Further, the pickup costs are normally considerably higher than for normal garbage pickup. Consequently, disposal by this method is quite costly.
The above problems have spurred purveyors of gardening equipment to develop viable alternatives for disposing of/utilizing garden waste. One desirable alternative to disposing of such material is to cut up/pulverize the materials on site to make them useable as valuable mulch or compost material. However, heretofore, the equipment available to produce such mulch and compost has been relatively undesirable for a number of different reasons
For example, devices such as that in U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,353, to Ferry, are, if constructed to be effective for garden waste pickup and treatment, quite large and difficult to operate. The Ferry structure is incapable of reaching into tight spots such as between trees and bushes. Additionally, one must deal with the problem of storing the rather obtrusive device when not in use.
An alternative to a structure such as Ferry's is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,163, to Mattson et al. The Mattson et al structure has the advantage that it is portable, however has other drawbacks Structures such as Mattson et al's have been advertised in the industry as pulverizers without the use of any type of cutting blade, as shown therein, and have relied solely upon the impeller vanes to effect the material size reduction While inherently the impeller, by reason of impacting and centrifugally propelled incoming materials, effects a certain amount of particle size reduction, the percentage of size reduction achievable has been found by the inventors herein to be relatively unsatisfactory, particularly where a fine mulch is desired.
Another problem that is inherent when the impeller is used as the sole cutting instrument is that the cut particles remain relatively large. There is a tendency of the equipment to clog by reason of these large particles wedging in the housing. This requires periodic stopping, disassembly, and cleaning of the device, which is clearly inconvenient and undesirable.